82F BANK HOLIDAY TODAY... BUT BEWARE RAIL AND ROAD HELL
BRITAIN is to swelter during the hottest May Bank Holiday ever today with 82F (28C) forecast – warmer than parts of the Caribbean.
Sun worshippers have enjoyed the heat so far this weekend with today set to be the hottest Bank Holiday Monday in its 40-year history.
As Britons round off their threeday weekend the South-east will see the highest temperatures but the UK should enjoy hot weather across the board, apart from western coasts and north-west Scotland.
The May Bank Holiday was introduced in 1978 and the warmest so far was 74.4F in 1999.
The Met Office’s Helen Roberts said: “It is almost a cert that we will break the Bank Holiday record of 23.6C but as for the weekend as a whole we may just fall short.”
The hottest bank holiday weekend was in 1995 when temperatures peaked on the Saturday at 83.4F.
Ms Roberts said Britain is hotter than Bermuda where temperatures are in the low to mid-20s.
She warned families to be aware of high UV levels and to cover up in the sun.
And for hay fever sufferers she added: “Pollen counts are also moderate or high.”
But Britons should make the most of the balmy conditions while they last. Forecasters said the South-east will remain warm and sunny on Tuesday, although it will be cooler further north and west where there will be the risk of showers. By Wednesday cooler conditions are expected to have moved across the UK from the west.
The thickening cloud from the west is likely to bring a more widespread risk of rain later in the day to northern Britain. But with the mercury generally on the rise, bookmakers William Hill have cut the price of temperatures hitting 100F this year from 10/1 to 8/1.
It is now 6/4 from 2/1 that the hot weather continues and we have the hottest May in history.
“The gamble on temperatures hitting 100F is making the bookies sweat over a big payout,” said William Hill’s Rupert Adams.
The average daytime high for the month of May is around 62.6F.
The record highest temperature for May is 91F which was recorded in 1922 and 1944.